A shameful view of Finland’s refugee policy during the cold war

In this week’s Apu magazine (issue 6/2010) there is a feature authored by me on a former Soviet citizen who was caught in 1974 by Finnish border guards and whisked back to the USSR without granting him the right to political asylum. You can read about it in Apu magazine or get some background information in this blog on how Finland’s special relationship with the USSR would not tolerate Soviet refugees.

The first biggest group of refugees that came to Finland during those years were Chileans after General Augusto Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. The majority of them (about 150 persons) moved elsewhere in Europe after a short stint in the country.